Detailed information
Dimensions
26 x 33 x 38
mm
Weight
32 g
Locality
Carn Brea Mine Camborne, Illogan Cornwall, England
Condition
No recorded repairs
Several small aggregates of intergrown dark grey pseudorhombic Bornite crystals are perched upon a miniature-sized piece of altered copper sulphide bearing veinstone from the famous Carn Brea mine near Redruth in Cornwall. It seems remarkable that a copper iron sulphide species such as Bornite is so rarely seen in crystals, and that many of the best examples are those found in a small number of Cornish copper mines during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The largest crystal on this piece reaches 8 mm in length and all of the crystals are really well-formed. The oxidized matrix has a few small age-related cracks and has been stabilized. It is from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021).